Let's get the complaining out of the way. The Volvo Concept Universe unveiled at the Shanghai auto show is styled with all the innovation of a Top 40 pop song. To some, the front end looks like a Swedish take on the 2002 Lincoln Continental concept’s; others see hints of Jaguar XJ in the rear end.

Getting past the shape, the Concept Universe communicates two important messages. First, it underscores that by universe, Volvo really means China. The company's new owner, after all, is China-based Zhejiang Geely Holding Group. Volvo's Chinese sales are fairly strong, and the management is desperate to grow its sales in the hot luxo-car market there. That's why Volvo CEO Stefan Jacoby says of the Concept Universe, “We will listen very carefully to what the Chinese car buyers think of the design. Later, we will also show the Concept Universe in other parts of the world.” Gee, thanks.

Of greater relevance for those of us not residing in the People's Republic of China, is the new platform underpinning the Concept Universe. Volvo calls it Scalable Platform Architecture, and we should see it again beneath several—if not all—upcoming Volvo models. Volvo is mum on such trivialities as possible application, size range, and engineering details for the time being; we'll have to be satisfied with the promise of the concept’s designer, Jonathan Disley, that the interior is more spacious than that of the S80 on sale now.

Jacoby has previously said that his company needs to move away from pitching cars as “premium” models, because this language is too heavy on the marketing fluff. So it was with great relief that we found the press materials for the Concept Universe entirely devoid of that word, instead harping on “luxury.” Although Volvo has a history of successfully flogging its models as the ultimate luxury cars in Communist countries—the North Koreans still tool around in 240s, and East German elites in the 1980s lived in a gated community jokingly referred to as Volvograd—China's shoppers are increasingly demanding. The next-gen Volvos that will grow from this Concept Universe have to live up to the marketing, whether they're called premium, luxurious, or something else.